


Cat's Out of the Bag

by JinxedAmbitions



Series: Monster of the Week Stories [1]
Category: The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxedAmbitions/pseuds/JinxedAmbitions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They gave him three rules that he was never to break, or at least Jensen thought there were three.  He may have just stopped listening after the third.  Of course, he was going to break them. They really should've seen that coming.  Too bad Jensen didn't see it coming that following their lethal sniper into an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night might end poorly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am well aware that the titles for my fics are getting progressively worse with each story I post.

When Jensen was assigned to the Losers, Clay told him that there were a couple rules he needed to observe.

  1. Do not test Roque’s limits. They’d lost multiple techs this way, and the paperwork explaining that Roque stringing the poor man up by his feet and threatening to skin him was all a part of a training exercise was, frankly, more trouble than it was worth.

  2. If you finish the coffee, you better have another pot brewing before anyone notices.

  3. Do not under any circumstances follow Cougar when he disappears.




There might have been a few more, but Jensen stopped listening at that point. Honestly, telling Jensen he was to strictly adhere to certain things, was the easiest way to make him do the opposite. His non-regulation glasses were a prime example. His possession of highly classified information pertaining to some very underhanded dealings of certain cruel drill sergeants from basic was another.

Jensen had met Roque’s limit by the end of day three, survived, and retaliated by day four.  Roque was still skittish around the tech.  Jensen had flaked on the coffee after a 30 hour hacking bender to get intel for a questionable op they were supposed to run. Clay had grudgingly forgiven him when the information he’d retrieved saved all of their asses.

So, it was only inevitable that Jensen would break the third rule. It wasn’t that Jensen set out to break rules. He was just curious by nature, and if something was important enough to have a rule about it, then it was probably worth looking into.

So, the third time that Cougar slipped out of the house and off base, Jensen didn’t fight the urge to follow him. For someone who was stealth personified, Cougar didn’t put much mind into preventing anyone from following him. Jensen probably should have taken that as a hint that no one dared do it, but he took it as a blessing that he wouldn’t be performing any acrobatic maneuvers to follow the sniper.

Jensen hadn’t been with the Losers for that long, but it had been long enough to know that Cougar was probably the least likely to beat him senseless for being a pain in the ass. It seemed that even Pooch had limits to his Jensen tolerance, but Cougar never seemed to bat an eye at Jensen’s unique personality.

So, maybe Jensen had a false sense of comfort when it came to the sniper. Hell, Cougar always had his back, he couldn’t really be blamed for it.

However, he could curse his curious nature when he stumbled into an abandoned warehouse on the shadier side of town. “Nothing good ever happens in these places,” he muttered to himself as he shimmied through the hole in the chain link fence that Cougar as gone through minutes earlier.

"I’m definitely going to die, and they’ll never find my body," he said as he looked around at the dust covered equipment once inside.  Cougar had disappeared seemingly into thin air once Jensen was in the building, but Jensen had the unnerving feeling of being watched.

"Look, Cougs. I’m sorry I followed you. I know Clay said it was one of those rules I wasn’t allowed to break, but honestly, everyone knows I’m too curious for my own good. You all should have seen this—"

Jensen cut off with a shriek when Cougar landed not fifteen feet in front of him from somewhere up above. He crouched there like a predator that knew it had its prey, and Jensen was fairly certain he was going to die. He couldn’t even explain why he was so certain, but it might have had something to do with the eerie glow coming from Cougar’s beautiful brown eyes.

"Please don’t kill me, Cougs. I’m too pretty to die. I’ve got a family, I told you about Bethy. She needs her uncle Jake. Who else is gonna teach her about coding an—"

The words died on Jake’s lips as Cougar rose. He slowly stalked closer to Jensen, the brim of his hat tipped low, shadowing his face. Jensen felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

"You know they say that curiosity killed the cat," Cougar said softly, but it sounded like a yell in the heavy silence of the warehouse.

"Yeah, but satisfaction brought him back, so let’s just skip a few steps, and I’ll just go back to base, and we can forget this ever happened," Jensen rambled as he took several steps back, matching Cougar’s stride. That is, until he reached the wall. The ability to walk through walls would've been great right then.

"But don’t you want to see? You came all this way," Cougar said still moving forward.

"That’s okay. Bad vision and all, can’t see much anyway," Jensen tried, but Cougar didn’t stop.

Jensen’s breath caught when Cougar stepped into a patch of moonlight, filtering down through the rotted ceiling. He wore a feral grin, teeth long on pointed, but by the time Jensen blinked Cougs was in shadow again, and Jensen believed his fear was making him hallucinate.

The next sliver of moonlight glinted off of what looked to be long sinister claws. As Cougar stalked closer and closer the beams of full moonlight caught his figure, and he seemed to transform before Jensen’s eyes.

Jensen stood frozen as teeth, claws, a strong jaw, hard muscle, and powerful legs took over the lithe sniper’s body. “I’m so sorry,” Jensen whispered as Cougar fell into the shadows right in front of him. He didn’t know who the apology was to, but it seemed appropriate.

Then, hot breath brushed across Jensen’s face, and he realized that Cougar wasn’t in shadow, but instead Jensen had shut his eyes tightly. Another puff of breath and a rumble almost like a purr, and Jensen still refused to open his eyes.

And then something that felt like wet velvet nuzzled Jensen’s cheek, and Jensen’s eyes finally shot open. Before him, a cougar stood on its hind legs, bracing its front paws on either side of Jensen’s face. It continued to nuzzled Jake’s cheek and neck as he stood trembling.

"What the hell?" he asked even though he knew the cat couldn’t really answer him.

A sandpapery tongue licked the fuzz on Jensen's chin, causing him to groan in disgust. “Dude, that's gross. A man's facial hair is sacred,” he complained as he immediately tried to push the cat's face away. He received another lick for his trouble.

Cougar nipped lightly at Jensen's fingers which caused him to yelp and snatch them away. “Shit, shit, shit. I need those! Bad kitty.”

Cougar seemed uninterested in Jensen's concerns, and butted his head against Jensen's chest and neck, looking for affection. Jake tentatively reached up to pet Cougar's head, ready to pull his fingers away again if Cougar got carried away. He was met with a deep, rumbling purr, and Cougar butted his head against Jensen's hand more enthusiastically.

“You're just a giant house kitty, aren't you?” Jensen laughed in relief when Cougar guided him to the places he wanted scratched or rubbed. He could feel his adrenaline crashing as Cougar accepted Jensen's attention with docile purrs. His legs folded beneath him and he fell to the ground in front of Cougar, just in time to hear Clay, Roque, and Pooch burst in.

It couldn't have looked good with Jensen crumpled against the wall with a giant cougar looming over him, even if said cougar was demanding affection instead of a flesh sacrifice.

“Cougar, back off,” Clay shouted as they approached with rifles locked on their target. Jensen hoped they were only full of tranquilizers, because tonight aside, Jensen was rather fond of Cougar.

Cougar turned and yowled at their team, blocking them from getting to Jensen. Roque took a step forward, and Cougar growled even louder.

“We will shoot you, Cougar. Leave the Tech alone,” Clay called, and that only seemed to incite Cougar further. Jensen was none too keen on being referred to as “the Tech” as he'd been with them for several months now, but he pushed that out of his mind.

“Hey, Cougs. It's okay,” Jensen said as he reached for Cougar.

“Jensen, stop. He's dangerous. Don't move,” Clay ordered, keeping his voice even.

Jensen couldn't help the scoff he made, because while he may have almost shit himself at first, Cougar clearly just wanted some love. That was precisely why Jensen tugged his tail to get his attention.

“Come here, kitty. Ignore them. They're no fun,” Jensen said as Cougar spun to face him, lips pulled back to showcase his deadly teeth.

“Oh fuck, we're gonna need another new tech,” Roque muttered, but Cougar flopped his head in Jensen's lap and started to purr loudly as Jensen scratched his face and neck.

“Roque, now,” Clay said softly, and Jensen could tell immediately that Roque had the best angle on Cougar.

“You shoot him, and I will do creative and evil things to your credit score. You will be so fucked that you won't even be able to buy yourself any fancy knives from overseas,” Jensen threatened as he rubbed Cougar's exposed flank. Cougar's hind leg kicked involuntarily with pleasure in time with Jensen's scratches.

Roque glared at him but still lined up his shot. Jensen looked at Clay with a dangerous glint in his eye. “You let him shoot Cougs, and your next birthday party will consist strictly of all your homicidal exes, and I won't even stop them from playing pin the knife in Clay,” Jensen said.

Clay swallowed, but his jaw was set, and he nodded at Roque.

“No!” Jensen shouted at the same time that Pooch used his own weapon to knock Roque's barrel up. A tranquilizer embedded itself in the wall just next to Jensen's head, and it wasn't just the magnification of Jensen's glasses that made his eyes the size of dinner plates.

“What the hell?” Roque hissed.

Pooch looked unapologetic as he pointed to Cougar who glared at them, but did not move away from Jensen's hands. “That is one happy cat, bro. Last time we busted in here and tranq-ed him, he gave me a nasty scar and nearly took off the tech's ear before he went down. The Pooch doesn't care how dangerous he is. Happy homicidal cougar is still way better than vengeful homicidal cougar. Not to mention what he did after he was Cougar again...”

All three men noticeably shuddered at Pooch's words. “He wants Jensen to scratch his belly all night, I'm not getting in his way,” Pooch finished and turned to exit the warehouse.

Clay and Roque did not look pleased as they watched Jensen drag Cougar further into his lap. Cougar was a big cat, and he still managed to fit in Jensen's lap. “What happens if he's playin' with him and eats him while we're gone?” Roque asked, and Clay studied Cougar as he licked Jensen's ridiculous hair into submission.

Clay shrugged. No amount of decorations or ranks were enough to prepare one to have a were-cougar under their command.

“I'm right here guys,” Jensen said, but they ignored him and started to walk away. “Hey, wait. Help me get him off me before you go,” Jensen called after them. Neither turned around.

“Don't make sudden movements, Jensen. He'll get excited and then maul you,” Clay called over his shoulder.

“Wait, I'm serious guys. Help me up. He's really heavy for a kitty,” Jensen shouted, and Cougar didn't seem to like that very much, because he slapped a big paw over Jensen's mouth. “Gross, keep those to yourself,” Jake grumbled as he pulled it away.

“Oh, and he definitely doesn't like loud noises,” Roque added helpfully.

“Or any noises really. I think he tried to eat Johnson because he talked too much,” Clay said.

“Not funny guys. Come help me! I really need to pee,” Jake called, his voice raised a little in desperation.

“Don't worry, Jensen. You'll be fine. Think of this as training.”

“I'm sorry, tranq him. It's fine. Don't make me sit hear quietly all night!”

“Call this a lesson in following the rules,” Clay said smugly, just before they slipped through the heavy metal door.

“Bastards,” Jake groaned, looking down at Cougar, who was watching him with almost glowing amber eyes. “We don't like them, do we?”

Cougar yowled in commiseration then butted his head against Jensen's jaw. Jensen huffed out a sigh and wondered what life would have been like if he'd never joined the Army.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't decided whether I'm going to add to this what happens the next day or now that Jensen knows, but it's a possibility.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I got the bug to continue this. We'll see where it goes.

The next morning, Jake woke alone on the floor of the warehouse. He blinked several times, trying to get his eyes to focus in the dim light. Cougar's clothes were nowhere in sight, neither was the man, or cat, himself. Jake rubbed his head, wondering if it had all just been some crazy, drug induced dream. However, his hair was still crusty as though it had been licked repeatedly.

Not to mention, there was still a tranq dart sticking out of the wall beside him. Jake took a deep, grounding breath. “What the fuck?” he said as he pushed himself to his feet. He froze when he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

“Coug, you still here?” he asked cautiously as he glanced around the supposedly abandoned building. He heard movement above him, and then much as the night before, Cougar dropped out of the rafters and landed gracefully in front of him.

“Shit man, you're trying really hard to give me a heart attack,” Jake said as he felt relief course through him.

“Sorry, wasn't sure you'd want to see me this morning,” Cougar said quietly, keeping his distance.

Jake gave him a funny look and shrugged. “Why not? All we did was cuddle last night. It's not like Clay can report us for that. It was chilly in here,” Jake said, walking toward Cougar and throwing an arm over the other man's shoulder. “You need to get us out of here though. I need to take a piss and the longest shower ever. This place is filthy, and your kitty breath is not exactly pleasant,” Jake joked.

Cougar tilted his head to glance up at Jake, but he didn't comment. He just fell into step with Jensen and showed him the easiest way out of the building. They walked in silence as they made their way off the private property and back onto the quiet road.

“So, um, can I ask you questions because I'm dying to ask questions, and I mean I totally understand if you don't want to talk about it, but this is like the coolest thing I've ever seen, so I'm super curious,” Jake blurted without taking a breath.

Cougar snorted, but didn't tense or pull away, so Jake was encouraged. “Ask what you like,” Cougar said.

“Oh man, where to even start. How? No, no. Um, yeah let's go with how.”

“I do not know. I have shifted for as long as I can remember,” Cougar replied, pushing his hands into his pockets. Jake realized, that Cougar might not understand it much better than Jake did, so he changed his approach.

“Is it just during the full moon, or have you tried any other time?” he asked, pulling away enough to look at Cougar.

“At first, it was just with the moon. As I grew up, I learned to control it,” Cougar's voice was even softer than usual, but his posture was still confident. Jake wasn't exactly sure what the man was feeling. He'd thought he was good at reading Cougar, but now he wasn't so certain.

“We don't have to talk about this,” Jake offered, but Cougar shook his head, turning down one of the streets closer to their house.

“It is fine. I am just...unused to speaking of it. It has always been something I hid,” Cougar told him.

“But you told the others,” Jake pointed out.

“No, I didn't. We were on an assignment. We couldn't leave the safehouse without compromising the mission, so I tried to suppress the change. I have no choice when the full moon rises. I can hold it off for a few hours if I'm feeling strong, but I will change eventually. I locked myself in the basement and tried to be quiet, but Pooch came to find me for my watch, and he found me in my other form. They almost killed me. I don't know what stopped them, but we don't talk about it. They make sure I have somewhere to go when I must, but other than that, they ignore it,” Cougar admitted, and Jake scoffed, tugging Cougar into his side again.

“Well they wouldn't know awesome if it bit them in the ass, so we'll just have to have our own super top secret shape-shifters club. I'll of course be an honorary member, but it'll still be really cool,” Jake told him.

Cougar chuckled, and that was really all Jake could ask for, because he really had no idea what Cougar was going through or had been going through forever.

“When I was eight, I was scoring off the charts on all those silly IQ and standardized tests, and it freaked my teachers and parents out, and it made me a really easy target for bullies. I mean, me not shutting up when I should've also made me a target, but they didn't like that I was smarter than them either. So, I got picked on like a ton when I was this little shrimp of a kid. So, I faked being average until everyone lost interest.”

“I do not like bullies.”

“Yeah, me either. I mean, I know that doesn't even compare to being a fucking mountain lion when the moon comes up—”

“Thank you,” Cougar said solemnly, taking his key out to open the door to their house.

“No problemo, Cougs,” Jake said as they walked in to find the rest of the team waiting for them in the living room, looking all sorts of serious. “Did somebody die?” Jake asked, less than tactfully as they entered the room.

“What was the rule, Jake?” Clay asked coldly.

“Now wait just one minute. This wasn't like the coffee rule. You don't just keep spontaneous animal transformations from your team members with a silly rule about not checking up on one specific teammate. Am I right, Coug?” Jake asked, turning toward his companion only to find Cougar watching the group behind the blank facade he wore in the field. Jake wanted to punch a wall after seeing how fast Cougar retreat back into sniper mode.

“You know what? Fuck you guys, you set me up for that, so don't try to turn this around on me. You guys couldn't wait to scare me into towing the team line. You left me there all night! You figured that it worked on the others, it'll work on me, but guess what? I don't scare easy, and I'm not going anywhere. You want someone who follows the rules, stop being the team they send the fuck ups to,” Jake said before storming up to his room.

He could hear Clay shouting behind him about mouthing off to his superiors, but he also heard Cougar's quiet steps at his heels, and that was more important to him at the moment. Jake left his door open as he walked into his room and sat at his desk. He'd show them fear. Just a few tweaks to their files and maybe a few nefarious credit transactions, and he'd show them.

Jake glanced up as his system was coming to life to see Cougar laid out on his mattress. He'd kicked his boots off, but other than that he was fully clothed and snuggled up in Jake's nest of afghans that his sister had sent him.

“Tired?” Jake asked as Cougar tipped his hat over his eyes.

“Sí, is exhausting,” he admitted, and Jake smiled at him even though Cougar couldn't see him.

“I'll try to be quiet, but I can't make any promises that I won't have to sweet talk Clay's bank accounts into giving up their funds,” Jake said.

“No worries. Thank you again,” Cougar said in barely a whisper as he settled in.

“Don't worry about it. What are friends for if not for credit fraud in the name of justice?”

Cougar laughed, but his breathing quickly evened out in sleep. Jake wondered if he'd slept at all the night before or if he'd watched over Jake the whole night. He'd ask him eventually what had happened, but for now Jake let him rest, while he took care of other matters.

 


	3. Chapter 3

“So how would you feel about being a surprise petting zoo at my niece's birthday? I mean you like getting pet, and me showing up with a giant kitty would make me the coolest uncle ever,” Jake said as he ate ice cream right out of the communal carton. He was sitting on the kitchen counter, kicking his legs out like a child.

It had barely been a week since the night in the warehouse, and while the team apologized for that being how Jake found out, they still danced around the issue like Cougar would start tearing out throats if they mentioned it aloud.

“Jensen, are you trying to get yourself shot?” Clay asked from where he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking his morning coffee.

“No sir, Bossman. Cougs is totally on board with this, aren't you?” Jake asked.

Cougar gave him _the look_.

“What? It's only fair since you nearly devoured me, you should nearly get devoured by my niece and her grabby friends.”

Cougar scoffed. “Your bony ass would not be worth the effort of chewing,” he said as he fixed himself a waffle. At least, Cougar's sense of humor was back. As much as Jensen enjoyed Cougar's earnest words after the incident, he actually preferred Cougar's sharp yet quiet wit.

“Hey, I resent that! Take it back, Coug. I have a very nice butt, just look,” Jake insisted as he immediately hopped off the counter and turned to present his behind for Cougar's viewing. Cougar snorted.

“I know what your ass looks like. I have to constantly watch it because you're always getting into trouble,” Cougar said, opening the waffle iron without paying Jake much attention.

Jake came very close to pouting as he tried to get a look at his own ass, as though it had betrayed him. Cougar used the distraction to steal the carton of chocolate ice cream from Jake's hands and scoop a very generous helping onto his still hot waffle.

“Will you still come to her birthday party? I promise I won't let anyone pull your tail,” Jake almost begged, taking back the almost empty carton.

“You couldn't even stop yourself from pulling it,” Cougar countered, looking straight at the still healing mark on Jake's bicep.

“It was just right there, being all tuggable and waggly. How could I not?”

Cougar rolled his eyes and left the room carrying his breakfast with him.

“Was that a yes?” Jake called after him.

“No.”

“Was it a no?”

“No.”

Jake smiled to himself as he took the last bite of ice cream. That answer was as good as a yes.

Pooch and Roque sat at the kitchen table openly staring at Jake. “What?” he asked when he noticed.

“You really are out of your mind,” Roque said, shaking his head.

“Why?”

“Dude, we don't talk about Cougr's 'time of the month.' He once melted down one of Roque's knives for even mentioning it,” Pooch told him, and Jake just looked at them oddly.

“What do you mean his _time of the month_?” he asked in confusion.

“Full moon, don't you know anything about werewolves?” Roque asked.

“Cougar isn't a werewolf or a woman as you were implying. He's a kitty, and I'm pretty sure he can change any time he likes,” Jake told them, licking the last of the ice cream off his spoon.

“What?” Clay nearly choked on his coffee.

“Well, he had four paws and a tail last night, and it's a new moon, so I'm thinking it's an anytime he wants sort of thing. Maybe if you talked to him about it, and didn't call it 'his time of the month,' he might have told you that, and you might have more luck with women if you didn't act like they became werewolves once a month. Just saying,” Jake said with a shrug as he threw his spoon in the sink and wandered out of the room.

Jake felt a little bad for outing Cougar to the others as he walked up to his room. Cougar must have had a reason for keeping that bit to himself even if it did sound an awful lot like spite for their poor phrasing for his predicament. Jake wasn't actually sure why he'd taken the whole revelation as well as he had after the initial shock wore off. It probably had something to do with it actually seeming natural for Cougar.

The man was all stealth and grace and as lethal as a predator. He had gotten his nickname for a reason, even if that reason wasn't that he actually turned into a giant cat. So, when Jake saw the sturdy yet sleek mountain lion that Cougar shifted into at will, it just made sense in a way that shouldn't have been possible.

Maybe that's why Cougar didn't hide as much about his condition from Jake. Jake's opinion of Cougar hadn't changed since he found out about his other form. The others seemed to believe that Cougar was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde now. Cougar wasn't like that. Jake wasn't entirely sure that Cougar had a hell of a lot of control over his actions as the animal, but even if he didn't, both man and creature seemed to have very similar desires and reactions to things. It wasn't like Cougar was turning into a blood thirsty monster. If anything, the animal seemed more willing to show Cougar's gentle and affectionate side.

So, it really wasn't surprising to Jensen at all when he walked into his room to find a 180 pound mountain lion dozing on his bed. Cougar's cowboy hat was neatly resting over its eyes. Jake wasn't sure how Cougar managed that with the transformation and the lack of opposable thumbs, but he'd learned to accept Cougar's magic.

“That's my bed. Yours is down the hall,” Jake said in the most authoritative voice he could manage. Cougar lifted his head just enough to give Jake an unimpressed look from beneath his hat. “Come on, Coug, you have your own uncomfortable bed to sleep in. This one is _mine_ , and you're getting kitty hair all over it,” Jake whined, and Cougar just wiggled his body to settle down again, spreading more fur on the sheets.

Jake sighed. “I'm sorry that I told them you can change whenever you want.”

Cougar narrowed his eyes then stretched some more, making sure to rub himself all over the afghans which would be impossible to de-fur.

“Don't make me come over there,” Jake warned. He wasn't sure whether mountain lions could snort in derision, but he was fairly certain that Cougar just did. So, Jake narrowed his eyes and dove for his bed.

No one ever tells you that big cats are slippery creatures, but Cougar slipped right out of Jake's headlock, and rolled them so he was on top. Jake wrestled the huge cat like it was nothing but him and Coug going at it over the last chocolate bar in the cabinet. He didn't even think about the gigantic claws hiding in Cougar's big, fuzzy paws.

Cougar had half of Jake's head in his mouth and was using his hind paws to tickle Jake into submission when Clay walked in.

“Christ!” Clay shouted as he reached for the sidearm he wasn't carrying at the moment. Roque and Pooch were just seconds behind him, and Roque had a knife out even before he crashed into the room.

Jensen and Cougar froze on the bed, and both looked at their teammates from the corner of their eyes. “This isn't what it looks like,” Jake said, realizing just then that his t-shirt was pretty much shredded even though Cougar hadn't broken his skin at all. It couldn't look good.

Cougar actually pulled back enough to release Jake's head—completely intact—from his mouth.

“It looks like Cougar was still hungry after his waffle sundae, and you're lunch,” Pooch said as he craned his neck to try to see it a different way.

“See, not what this is at all. Cougar is being a territorial bastard and getting cat hair all over my bed, so I'm teaching him a lesson,” Jake said confidently.

“ _You're_ teaching _him_ a lesson,” Clay said slowly, pointing to where Cougar's claws were just inches away from Jake's delicate skin.

“Yeah, I probably should've just used the laser pointer to distract him and lock him outside, but wrestling was the first thing that came to mind,” Jake admitted with a shrug.

Cougar seemed to have lost interest in the conversation and had started to lick Jake's hair to clean him. Jake made a face as Cougar's sandpapery tongue swiped over the side of his face.

“Tell Cougar we are having a team meeting in ten, and he better not have a tail by then,” Clay barked before leaving the room.

“I don't think it works like that, boss,” Jake said, but Clay just gave him a dark look. “I'll see what I can do.”

When it was just the two of them again, Jake sighed and relaxed in Cougar's hold. The giant cat didn't stop cleaning him, skewing his glasses with every lick. “Cougar, Clay says you need to shift back because he wants to yell at us, and it isn't nearly as effective when you have your kitty superiority complex running amok,” Jake said, reaching up and scratching at Cougar's belly.

Cougar made a deep rumbling purr as Jake pet him, abandoning his cleaning to nuzzle Jake's head. “You really owe me because this was one of my favorite shirts,” Jake said, looking down at his mostly exposed stomach.

Jake was still lazily rubbing Cougar's belly when claws dug into his chest, and Cougar let out a pained yowl. Jake froze, afraid if he moved Cougar might attack, but also concerned at the sudden pain the animal was in.

Cougar's body seized, tearing into Jake a little more, and the cat continued to keen. Then Jake started to feel the hard muscle he was surrounded by begin to shift and settle, and fur begin to lessen until damp skin remained. The claws digging into Jake's pec retracted and only blunt nails and Cougar's hand gripped him hard.

The transformation didn't take more than a minute, but it was one of the longest minutes of Jake's life. He could only imagine what it was like for Cougar, who had stopped yowling and moaning and was left panting hard as he clung to Jake.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jake said, rolling to face Cougar who'd gone limp beside him. Jake looked down at the sniper who was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. “Oh god, Coug, you okay? Shit, that looked really painful,” Jake said, cupping Cougar's face.

Cougar opened his eyes just enough to look up at Jake through his lashes. “I hurt you,” Cougar said regretfully as he raised a shaking hand to rest it against Jake bloody chest.

“Flesh wound. Are you okay?” Jake brushed off the concern, but held Cougar's hand against his skin.

“Will be in a minute. Can I...” Cougar trailed off, his hand slipping out of Jake's and onto Cougar's bare stomach. Jake hadn't even noted Cougar's nudity until he looked down as his hand slapped bonelessly against his body.

“You want me to give you a minute? Yeah, yeah. Sure, I can do that. I'll go grab you some clothes, alright?” Jake said, pushing himself up away from Cougar, and scrambling off the bed. It wasn't that being tangled with a naked teammate gave Jake the creeps. He just wasn't sure if Cougar felt comfortable being naked and vulnerable after what looked to be an extremely painful transformation. So, Jake beat a hasty retreat, before Cougar could even respond.

When Jake came back with the clothes Cougar had been wearing earlier as well as a pair of sweatpants, in case he didn't want to wear jeans, he paused in the doorway before entering. It didn't look like Cougar had moved, but his hat was now covering his face, so he must have.

“It okay if I come in?” Jake asked. Cougar had made no effort to cover anything but his face, so Jake assumed he wasn't feeling terribly self-conscious.

“Sí,” Cougar said without moving. Jake hurried in and closed the door, dropping the clothes on the end of the bed as he walked over.

Cougar still didn't move as Jake fussed with the clothing, unsure what he should do. “Do you want me to go?” he asked when Cougar made no move to get up.

“No,” he said. His voice was still soft and tired sounding, but it was less strained.

“Can I do anything?” Jake asked, wringing his hands nervously.

“Just talk,” Cougar said, pushing himself up slowly.

“I can definitely do that. I mean, I may actually be bursting with questions about what just happened. That was probably the sickest thing I've ever witnessed, and I was three feet away when you blew that general's head off right before he tried to kill me. Like, it is blowing my mind that you choose to change if that's what it's like every time. Like Jeez, no wonder you have a pain tolerance of mythic proportions.”

Jake kept rambling as he watched Cougar slowly pull his boxers on, followed by his loose t-shirt. He stared at the options for pants for nearly an entire minute before reaching for the sweatpants. Jake didn't say anything, but he figured Cougar was pushing aside his pride by taking the comfortable pants over what he always wore.

Cougar didn't say anything as he settled his hat on his head again, but Jake had to stop him before he left the room. “Coug, um forget about what I was saying about my niece's birthday. I'd never ask you to do that if I'd realized what it meant to change. It just seemed so easy that night, and you do it frequently enough that I just thought—”

“I didn't transform in front of you to get out of your niece's birthday,” Cougar said, looking at Jake from beneath the brim of his hat.

“Oh,” Jake said when Cougar made no indication that he was going to elaborate. Cougar just smirked at him and left the room to go and face Clay. Jensen tagged along focusing all of his attention on why Cougar would've chosen to show him what it was like. Jake actually ran into Cougar's strong back when the sniper stopped in front of the bathroom.

“What's up?” Jake asked as Cougar pushed him inside.

“I need to clean that,” Cougar said as he pointed to Jake's chest which had slowed its bleeding.

“Oh, do I turn into one of you now? Or is the smell of my blood making you hungry? Is that a thing for you?” Jake couldn't stop himself from asking.

Cougar laughed softly. “No, what I have is not contagious, but you can still get an infection from being negligent,” Cougar told him, pushing Jake down onto the closed toilet lid.

“That's good information to have,” Jake mumbled as Cougar wet a cloth and gently cleaned the blood off of Jake's chest. He was distracted by Cougar's hands which were so different than the soft yet deadly paws that had been all over his body earlier. Jake couldn't fight the shudder that ran through his body at that thought.

Cougar was probably the best medic Jake had ever worked with, or maybe he was just the first medic that liked Jensen enough to be careful in his treatment of Jake. Either way, Jake barely flinched as Cougar disinfected the punctures that his claws had left, and Jake didn't even protest the huge bandage that Cougar insisted on covering it with until it closed up.

When they were finished, they walked down to face Clay and the others together. Jake still felt smug that the team had set him up to get terrified by Cougar, and it had blown up in their faces, bringing Jake and Cougar even closer together.   


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a week later than I'd planned it to be, but I've been sick and distracted with other fics. The next chapter is all finished, so hopefully that'll get posted quicker.

It wasn't until months later that Jake came face to face with the monster everyone else saw when Cougar transformed. Jake was still the only person Cougar would transform in front of, and Jake still wasn't really sure why that was. Cougar had opened up about the specifics of his condition with the rest of the team, but he still wouldn't let them see it happen. Sometimes Jensen wished Cougar would spare him the nauseating visual, but he always scolded himself for that thought because Cougar actually had to feel it. While Cougar explained that it varied in intensity, it still looked awful. He said he barely felt it when the moon forced the change, but when he forced it without properly relaxing it was excruciating. The whole process explained a lot about why he was one of the best snipers in the business.

Cat Cougar was still tense and easily put into fight mode around the team, but he was slowly coming around. The rest of the team was slowly getting used to a nearly 200 pound mountain lion wandering through the house on occasion. The only rule Clay had made about Cougar transforming was that he was not to do it under any circumstances in the field. There was just no way of insuring that he wouldn't turn on his own team. Jake didn't believe that for a minute, but it wasn't his place to question. However, in Jake's lengthy experience, rules were made to be broken, and so too came the moment that Cougar broke that one rule.

They'd been in yet another jungle. Jake was honestly sick and tired of drug smugglers and their love of the fucking jungle. Jake was at the point that it wasn't even worth getting the sweat stains out of his uniforms anymore. They'd just be right back when he stepped off the next transport.

The mission had been shitty from the start, and then they'd gotten lost. Honestly, they were Special Forces, and they'd stumbled right off the trail like a bunch of novice hikers. Jensen and Cougar had tried to find high enough ground to get a lookout and get Jake's equipment to put out a signal and figure out just where the hell they were.

Instead, the entire team stumbled right into an ambush. One minute, Jake was complaining about the lack of wifi in the rainforest, and the next very angry and heavily armed men were pouring out of the underbrush. Cougar was already halfway up the tree when the soldiers came out of nowhere.

Jensen looked up at Cougar wide eyed as Cougar pulled his rifle off his shoulder and aimed down at the fight taking place beneath them. Jake had his own handgun out and trying not to get killed as nearly a dozen men started to surround them.

“Guns down,” one of the men shouted at them. Clay held his hands up as he placed his gun on the ground. The rest of them went to do the same, but one of the smugglers must have been twitchy because a shot rang out, and Jake felt the searing pain of a bullet drilling through his shoulder.

Guns and knives were being drawn even as Jensen cried out in pain. He saw the man that shot him fall to the ground with one of Clay's bullets between his eyes. However, they were still severely outnumbered, and things got bloody fast, and they were dragged away towards the camp they were supposed to be infiltrating.

Cougar was still hiding high up in the tree as they dragged the rest of the team away, and Jake stared up in the tree through bloodstained glasses. He swore he could see the gleam of golden eyes far above him, but Cougar wouldn't risk shifting. He was too good a soldier for that.

They were hogtied and left in the center of the camp when they arrived. There was really no wonder why they had gotten lost. The camp was barely large enough to stumble over even if you knew where to find it. Jake hated these sorts of operations. They always turned bad, and Clay's way with saying the absolute worst, most aggressive thing possible was not making his shoulder bleed any less rapidly.

“Who sent you?” one of their captors asked them as they were being tied up.

“Someone who wants you very dead, and is going to get their wish when we get out of this,” Clay said, and Jensen really hoped that someone had hit him in the head hard, because that was possibly the worst thing Clay had ever said to someone holding a gun to their heads.

“It is unlikely, but I welcome you to try before we kill you,” the man laughed.

The interrogation process wasn't fun either. It wasn't so much an interrogation as the men in the camp were bored and in the mood to torture someone or four someones. One of the men knocked out two of Clay's teeth. Roque would probably be pissing blood for a few weeks after the number of kicks he took to the kidneys. Pooch hadn't fared much better, and Jensen now knew what it felt like to have someone viciously squeeze a bullet wound. It was not something he had needed to experience first hand.

Jake was bleeding pretty heavily after that, so he wasn't entirely sure that his brain wasn't making up the glowing golden eyes he kept seeing at the edge of the camp. He also wasn't certain the scream he thought he heard wasn't his own because he'd done a lot of that. Their captors seemed a little more certain though, because suddenly the camp was on alert.

However, before anyone knew what was happening, multiple men were lying in pools of their own blood. Jensen watched the shadow of a cougar kill its way through the camp. It was awful the sounds the men made as they fell one by one to the intelligent beast.

“Run,” the leader shouted, but by then Jake could already see the feral eyes watching the man as he scrambled. Clay and Roque had gotten out of their bindings in the commotion and were helping Jake and Pooch out.

“We need to get out of here,” Clay said firmly.

“He's here to save us,” Jake said, never taking his eyes off of Cougar as he stalked toward them.

“He's a predator, Jensen. You're wounded, and he'll kill you without a thought,” Clay told him, but Jake fought out of his hold.

Blood dripped from Cougar's mouth, and his paws and limbs were covered in it as well. His teeth showed dangerously between his gums. As the leader tried to run, he grabbed a hold of Jake and tried to use him as cover. He held a gun to Jake's head as he back away. “You make a wrong move and you're puma food,” the man warned him, but Jake wasn't listening. He was focused on the way Cougar stalked toward them.

When Cougar started to run at them, Jake felt himself being propelled toward Cougar's vicious jaws, but Cougar leaped over him as he fell and pounced on the leader. Jake twisted to see him tear the man limb from limb with all of the ferocity of a hungry animal and none of the docile affection of the cat Jake had come to know.

Jensen didn't look away even as Clay tried to pull him back. “Jake, we need to go,” Clay said, but Jake shook his head.

“No, we can't leave him like this,” Jake said, trying to scramble to his feet, but he was dizzy from blood loss. He stumbled back to his knees, and Cougar's head whipped around from where he was tearing into their captor. His nostrils flared as he looked straight at Jensen. Clay picked up his weapon and aimed it at Cougar as the cat stalked toward Jensen.

Jake didn't try to move. He continued to kneel, watching Cougar approach him slowly. “Hey Coug,” he said softly when Cougar circled around him, studying him. “It's okay,” he said, holding up his uninjured arm. Cougar stepped into Jake's space and ducked his head under Jake's outstretched hand. Jake chuckled softly as he rubbed Cougar's head. He used his shirt to wipe some of the blood from Cougar's fuzzy face, even as he heard Clay breathe a sigh of relief. Cougar wrinkled his nose at Jake's fussing, but he didn't try to back away from the attention.

“He's not a monster boss. He's marginally fuzzier than usual, and he has an awesome tail. He's still Coug,” Jake said, glancing up at Clay before burying his face in Cougar's fur. “Thanks for saving my ass, man. You did good,” Jake told the cat softly, but he knew Cougar would hear him.

Cougar nuzzled him, careful of his injuries. “Cougar, as much as I love cuddles, I'm feeling pretty damn woozy right now, so maybe we could get this show on the road,” Jake said, and Cougar gave him one last affectionate headbutt before stepping back.

He didn't shift, but he quickly walked back toward where they had been captured. “Guess we're following him,” Pooch said as Cougar brushed past him.

Cougar guided them through the jungle easily. They ran into no more smugglers or ambushes which was fortunate because Jake was barely conscious as Clay and Pooch carried him. Roque was just managing to limp behind Cougar by his own power, but he wasn't doing so well either. Cougar stopped every so often and would prowl over to where they'd rest Jake on the ground, and he'd check Jake's condition, sniffing his shoulder and licking his fevered face.

Jake was too weak to even protest the possessive behavior, and when he did try to push Cougar's head away from his face, he was barely able to lift his hand to Cougar's neck before his strength failed him. That earned him several more licks, and Jake didn't even care.

Cougar guided them to a vehicle that Pooch ended up hot wiring. He still didn't change as he muscled his way into the back seat and laid down on the floor by Jake's prone body. Clay was back there too, putting pressure on Jake's wound. The whole situation was tense and lacking their usual skill. The whole mission was one big rookie mistake.

Pooch managed to find them a safe house of sorts to stay in. He and Clay carried Jake inside and laid him down on the floor since there were no beds. Roque gathered their equipment, and Cougar secured the perimeter before going to Jake's side.

Clay had Jake stripped to the waist and was inspecting the damage while Pooch was scrambling through Cougar's pack to find their medical supplies. Clay grabbed Jake a little too roughly as he tried to put him on his side to check for an exit wound. That's when Jake started screaming and couldn't stop.

Cougar stood over Jake's body and growled at Clay and Pooch until they backed away from Jake.

“Dammit Cougar, you aren't helping him like this. You need to get that bullet out of him because we don't have steady enough hands,” Clay shouted at the animal.

Cougar pressed his face to Jake's neck on his uninjured side until Jake was clutching his fur and calming down. Jake didn't stop whimpering incoherently, but Cougar stepped away from him. He disappeared further into the house before Clay, Pooch, and Roque heard the agonizing screams.

The rest of the Losers were a little paler than they'd been when he'd padded away when Cougar staggered back into the room, naked and exhausted. Roque threw him a pair of pants and a canteen to clean off with. Cougar made quick work of cleaning up then cleaned his hands with disinfectant before he knelt beside Jake. He pulled on a pair of gloves and started to inspect the wound silently. He didn't look at any of the others as he straddled Jake's stomach, and held his arms down with his knees.

Jake clutched Cougar's ankle in his hand as Cougar tried to coax the bullet out of the wound. Pooch was pretty green by the time they heard the telltale clink of the bullet falling onto the floor beside them. Jake had screamed himself hoarse by then, but his body still tried to writhe as Cougar flushed the wound then stitched it.

Setting up the transfusion was less than easy—and only possible because after Clay had nearly bled to death six months ago, Cougar carried the proper supplies—and far from sanitary as they set Pooch up to give Jake some much needed blood. Thankfully, Pooch was a universal donor, and often the least likely to walk away with life threatening injuries.

It was far from their best operation, and Jake only made it out alive by a miracle. Cougar had paced the entire night while they waited for extraction. He'd been inconsolable when Jake you scream through his delirium. Cougar had carried Jake onto the helicopter all on his own when they finally were extracted.

When they got back to base, he paced the waiting room until Jake was allowed visitors and after that he sat down in the chair beside Jake's bed and refused to move.

After the incident, Cougar kept a close eye on Jake and was particularly territorial of him. The cat took to sleeping on Jake's bed even though there wasn't a whole lot of room for them both. Cougar would curl up in Jake's nest of blankets while Jake worked at his computer, and when Jake was exhausted he'd stumble over and pass out beside or on top of Cougar. Some nights, Jake would fall asleep long before Cougar returned from meetings or time at the range, and he would wake later as the cat hopped up onto his bed and stole his covers.

One night when Jake's shoulder was giving him a rough go of it, and he needed to just stretch out and have some space, he crawled out of bed and crept down to Cougar's abandoned room. He shut the door and slipped beneath the covers. In the morning, he woke to find not only Cougar sleeping at his feet but also all of the soft afghans from his bed suddenly on Cougar's.

“You are a menace,” Jake told him as he rubbed his back. After that, Jake didn't try to escape Cougar during the night. Instead, he bought himself a king sized bed that just barely fit into his cramped bedroom. He asked Erin to send him more blankets if she still had a bunch lying around. Clay just shook his head when he saw Jake's room and muttered about don't ask don't tell.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Jake's opinion of Cougar didn't change after he saw what the cat was capable of, but the team's did. They finally realized that while the cat was deadly, it was also territorial and protective, and the team was part of his territory. They eased up when the cat would slink its way through the house. They'd even show the cat affection.

The cat, in turn, became more docile around the team. The cat went to different members of the team for different things. Jensen provided affection, entertainment, and a cozy bed among other things. Pooch provided snacks. Cougar could corner Pooch in the kitchen and without fail walk away with the man's entire tuna fish sandwich. Cougar went to Roque when he needed a good scratch. Roque could give him the best scratching of his life with his knives and never break Cougar's skin, and Roque was secretly overjoyed to do it.

Cougar was especially affectionate toward Jensen.

\---

Jensen came down to do work on the sofa when his back started to hurt from hours in his office chair. He set his laptop on his lap, and within minutes—like an over grown house cat— Cougar came slinking into the room. He jumped up onto the back of the couch and watched Jensen work for a bit while he cleaned his paws. Then when he got bored, he stepped down onto the couch and plopped himself right on top of Jensen's lap and keyboard.

“What the hell?” Jensen asked as Cougar stretched out and settled down to nap on the warmth of Jake's lap and computer. “Oh no, the bed was pushing it, but this is unacceptable,” Jensen complained. Cougar ignored him, and his tail swished back and forth slowly. Every once in a while, it would poke Jensen in the face in its movement.

“I will dump your fat cat ass on the ground,” Jake threatened, but Cougar continued to ignore him. “But I need to work,” Jake whined. “Fine, but I get to choose what we watch.”

That received a growl from Cougar, and Jake threw up his arms. “You're a monster.”

Jake picked up the remote and switched it to the Spanish channel that ran soaps pretty much all day long. Cougar purred as the overly emotive actress cursed some guy out for sleeping with her identical twin sister because he should have known it wasn't her, because she had his name tattooed on her ass. Or, that's what Jake thought was going on. Maybe she was telling him to kiss her ass. His Spanish wasn't exactly awesome. He could talk to Cougar in Spanish, but he was pretty sure that was because Cougar talked to him like Jake was four years old.

Cougar rested his head on his massive paws as he watched the television. Jake scratched between his ears and tried to follow along. He used to ask Cougar what was going on when he'd find him trying to covertly watch his shows, but Cougar couldn't explain it when he was a cat. Jake thought he did it on purpose. Cougar could watch his shows without interruption, and no one was going to give the cat shit for what it wanted to watch. Win-win for Cougar. Not so much for anyone who wanted to sit in the living room to do some work evidently.

Honestly, no one really thought of the cat as their teammate. At first, it was because it was too awkward rubbing behind the cat's ears or over his belly if they thought about the fact that it was Cougar. However, as time passed, they just thought of the cat as its own entity. It had a different personality and was far friendlier than the sniper ever was. The cat liked to watch telenovelas during the afternoons and nap on various teammates. Cougar liked to disappear down to the range and shoot things in the afternoons. It was a strange dichotomy, but Jake believed that the cat got to live the life Cougar wasn't allowed to, so Cougar indulged it.

Jake would admit that he indulged the cat as well. It wasn't that he preferred the cat to Cougar. He just didn't know how to show Cougar the things he could show the cat without drawing all sorts of weird looks and questions. Jake had never been great with people. He could build a character and play a part, but when it came to understanding boundaries and social signals, Jake got a bit muddled up.

So, Jake often found the company of animals preferable to that of people. Dogs weren't sneaky. If you were nice to a dog, chances are it would be nice to you and love you forever. Even cats were less puzzling than people.

Jake may have used Cougar's animal form to show him the love he felt for his human form. He knew it was a bit cowardly, but Jake didn't have many friends. Cougar was really the first real friend Jake had since joining the Army. Jake loved Pooch, Roque, and even Clay, but it had been Cougar who took him in even when he was being controlled by the pull of the moon.

Cougar just meant so much to Jake, but this was the Army. More than that, this was Special Forces, the best of the best. Jake's former unit had been filled with men who thought pink was a disease you could catch that would slowly siphon the masculinity out of you the longer it was on your skin. It was unfortunate because Jake was actually quite fond of pink.

It was only logical that Jake wouldn't trust the Losers not to have some of the same tendencies. Cougar was especially anti-social in many respects. He preferred his alone time. He didn't talk much and never about feelings. Jake knew he had nightmares about things that he'd seen, but they weren't up for discussion.

So, Jake didn't wrap his arms around Cougar and hold him tight while he watched movies on his laptop. He didn't tell Cougar how much he appreciated him and how he accepted Jensen for who he was. He didn't tug on Cougar's hair affectionately even though it looked so soft and touchable.

He reserved all of those tactile affections for the cat. He could rub the cat anywhere, and no one accused him of being a homosexual. He could tell the cat how much he loved him without anyone looking at him like he was crazy. He could pull the cat's swishy tail, and if he was on top of his game, he wouldn't even get playfully mauled by Cougar.

Some nights Jake would stay up late with Cougar's fuzzy head pillowed on his stomach and just run his fingers through his fur. It was those nights that Jake felt particularly lonely. Cougar was there purring so loud that he sounded like an engine, but Jake was still alone. He wanted to be able to talk to Cougar about how lonely he was. How he joined the Army thinking that it would help him make friends, but it only made him feel like more of an outsider. How he wasn't sure if he knew who Jake Jensen was anymore because he'd been playing parts for so long that he'd forgotten parts of himself.

Petting the cat helped the ache in his chest ease a bit, but it wasn't the same as having a person there. It wasn't the same as if Cougar was lying in his bed and listening. The cat couldn't tell Jake it would be okay. Jake just wanted someone to tell him that.

Then Jake would think of the bloody, feral beast that had torn a man's throat out for hurting Jake, and he realized that maybe the cat did tell him these things. Jake could read human Cougar like no one else. He often tried to read the cat the same way, but the cat spoke in actions. Human Cougar did too, but the cat's were ones that a human couldn't get away with. Torn throats and sitting right on top of Jake were words in their own right.

“Coug, what the hell is she upset about this episode?” Jake asked the cat in his lap as the telenovela continued to play. Cougar lifted his head just enough to nip at Jake's fingers which never failed to quiet him. Jake needed his fingers. Even if Cougar would never intentionally eat them, accidents happened.

“Can we please watch Mystery Science Theater instead?” Jake asked, reaching for the remote, so he could boot up Netflix.

Cougar growled and stood up. It was never good when Cougar got up. It meant that he was going to punish Jake for being distracting. Sure enough, Cougar turned around, so he was face-to-face with Jake. He started to rub his head all over Jake's shoulders and face. Jake had googled the behavior when it became apparent that it was something Cougar liked to do to him. He was scent marking him, and at first that had freaked Jake out a bit, but other than being totally annoying, it was really kind of sweet. Kind of like when Cougar obnoxiously licked his hair into submission.

“Come on, Coug. I DVR all of your shows. Let's watch one of mine for a—ack—that is gross,” Jake groaned pulling cougar fur off his tongue. “Fine, but tomorrow we are watching what I want to.”

Clay walked into the living room then and grabbed the remote as he passed the sofa. Before Jake could protest, the football game was playing.

“Cougar was watching something,” Jake told Clay while Cougar continued to headbutt and rub all over him.

“I think Cougar's a bit too preoccupied at the moment to care about telenovelas,” Clay replied, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“He growled at me when _I_ tried to change the channel. Isn't that right, Cougar? You were watching something, and Clay just interrupted you,” Jake addressed the mountain lion in his lap.

Cougar stopped what he was doing to stare at Jake. He did that innocent little head tilt as though he had no idea what Jake was saying, then he started licking Doritos crumbs out of Jake's facial hair, much to Jake's dismay.

“See, Coug doesn't care,” Clay said, reaching over and rubbing Cougar's flank.

“I hate you,” Jake told him, letting his head tilt back against the couch while Cougar harassed him. Jake was the only one who had to put up with this level of aggressive nuisance from Cougar. Cougar was too dignified around the others to engage in such behavior. Jake usually just let it happen, but sometimes he wanted to ask why Cougar hassled him.

“Jensen, tell Cougar that he's going to owe me a hundred bucks when the Cowboys kick his team's ass. Also tell him that the steaks in the kitchen are for us for dinner, so he better not eat them if he doesn't want to become a Cougar area rug,” Clay told Jake as the game went to a commercial.

“Why are you telling me? He's got these big fuzzy ears so as better to hear you with,” Jake said as he grabbed Cougar's ears and wiggled them. Cougar growled, but he didn't follow through with any retribution.

“I'm telling you because you're the only one the cat listens to. I also refused to talk to a cat like a fellow officer,” Clay told him, putting his feet up on the coffee table and drinking some of his beer.

Jake grumped, but he repeated what Clay had told him to Cougar. The cat huffed as though he could already smell the steaks and was just waiting to devour them when Clay wasn't looking. Or maybe he thought Clay was an idiot for betting on the Cowboys.

“I gotta get up, Coug. Sunday Skype date,” Jake told the cat, pushing his face away from Jake's. Cougar growled, but he got off Jake and waited impatiently while Jake gathered his things and headed for the stairs. Cougar immediately collapsed onto the warm spot that Jake left behind.

Jake saw Clay roll his eyes and grumble, but his hand found its way back into Cougar's fur even before Jake was out of sight. Jake shook his head. What a strange life he lived.

Beth was waiting for him when he got everything set up and on Skype. She called him after only a moment, and her smiling face greeted him. Erin was in the background, looking tired as usual.

“Hey baby girl,” Jake said when Beth waved at him. “You lost another tooth? Did the fairy give you a shiny quarter?”

“Uncle Jake, don't be silly. She gave me a ten dollar bill,” Beth told him.

“Jeez, the tooth industry must be booming,” Jake said.

“Bethy, why don't you tell him how you lost your tooth?” Erin said in the background.

Beth looked sheepish as she looked up at the camera with her big innocent eyes. “I was playing on the seesaw and Tommy pushed me, and I hit my face and fell off,” she sounded so contrite, but Jake's heart had stopped, and in three seconds he'd aged about a decade. He wanted to demand this Tommy's head on a platter, and storm the school board.

“Are you alright?” he asked frantically, trying to see the rest of his niece. She held up a bright pink cast covering her hand, and her eyes ducked low. “Oh god, when did this happen? Why didn't you call?”

“It happened yesterday, and we didn't call because you would've freaked out like you're doing now. She's fine, Jake. Kids get hurt. It's not the end of the world,” Erin told him. Jake knew for a fact that Erin had probably gone nuts when it happened just like he would've. She had just had more time to come to terms with it now.

“Yes, it is. She could've been maimed or worse. What if she'd hit her skull instead?” Jake asked.

“It really wasn't as bad as it sounds, Jake. I was right there. She just took a spill and has tiny little wrists. Doctors say it happens all the time, and she will make a full recovery,” Erin told him, holding Beth in her lap. Beth had a brand new looking stuffed animal hugged close to her chest.

“You already spend your tooth fairy loot?” he asked, trying to calm down. Beth smiled at him and nodded.

“This is Jakey, he's going to protect me,” Beth told him, holding up a pristine stuffed goat. Jake almost grumbled that she named a goat after him, but he was too concerned about her to be affronted.

“That's good, Bethy. He'll take the best care of you,” Jake told her.

Erin changed the subject after that, getting Beth to tell him all about how school was going and about her friends. Jake listened with all of his attention even if it felt like his heart was in a vice.

When the call finally ended, Jake put his computer on his desk and collapsed on his bed. He felt useless. He wasn't around to tell Beth stories to distract her while her wrist hurt. He wasn't there to protect her. That was being left to a stuffed goat with suspiciously similar facial hair to his own.

Jake had broken his wrist as a kid. He hadn't been fun. Erin had tried to cheer him up, but he wasn't allowed to run around and have fun for weeks while it healed. Jake just wanted to be there to make fun for Beth, but he was far away.

Jake laid on his back staring sadly at the ceiling until he felt the bed shift, and a fuzzy head rested on his stomach. Jake sniffled softly as he buried his fingers in the soft fur of Cougar's neck. “I'm not there for her. How am I supposed to protect her if I'm here, and she's miles and miles away?” he asked, turning onto his side and tugging Cougar up into his arms, uncaring that he was trying to spoon a mountain lion. Cougar settled easily in Jake's embrace, and Jake couldn't help but feel the similarities between himself and his niece. Cougar was like a giant stuffed animal as he laid their letting Jake take what comfort he could from him.

Jake continued to sniffle as he buried his nose in Cougar's fur and fell asleep.

 


	6. Chapter 6

As spring came and Jensen's niece's birthday approached, he didn't mention it to Cougar. He didn't want to put that pressure on him, especially when he knew how hard the change was on him sometimes. Not to mention, Cougar gave him so much already, Jake didn't want to burden him further. However, when Erin called to tell Jake when the party would be, Cougar overheard them speaking.

“Did you still want me to be a petting zoo?” he asked when Jensen hung up. He sounded like the term petting zoo pained him, but he didn't actually look averse to the idea.

“What? No, man. I'm really sorry I asked. I don't want you to feel like—”

“I will do it,” Cougar cut him off. Jensen looked as he oddly as they sat beside each other on the couch.

“You sure?”

“Sí, it is no hardship,” Cougar promised.

The pair of them drove up to Erin's house that weekend, and when they pulled into the driveway, Jensen looked over at Cougar who had his hat tipped over his eyes. “You're totally okay with this? The leash and everything?” Jake asked for the twentieth time since they hit the road.

Cougar didn't answer him, he just climbed into the back seat and began to strip. Jake watched him with worried eyes, knowing that the transformation would be a good indicator of how much Cougar didn't want to do this. However, Cougar slipped into form easily, and the cat stared back a Jensen with expectant eyes.

Jake fastened a collar around his neck and attached it to a lead before jumping out of the car. The cat followed him slowly, its movements languid and calm. Erin met Jake at the door and nearly spilled her drink all over herself when she saw the deadly predator standing beside her brother.

“What the hell is that?”

“It's a cougar. He's here to wish Bethy a happy birthday,” Jake told his sister who was still clutching her chest.

“It's going to eat her,” Erin said, and Cougar made that derisive cat noise Jake had heard many many times when he was being an idiot.

“He doesn't think a seven year old would be worth the effort, and if he hasn't tried to eat me yet, I don't think he really has a taste for humans,” Jake assured her, but Erin crossed her arms.

“How long have you had a mountain lion as a pet, Jacob?”

“Cougar isn't my pet, Erin. He's my shape-shifting sniper teammate who is doing me a solid and making me look cool in front of my niece on her birthday.”

“What was that?”

“I'll explain later. Where's Beth?” Jake said as he pushed inside the house even as Erin tried to block his entrance. Cougar sat patiently behind Jake, making no move toward Erin Jensen. Jake was honestly impressed by the cat's restraint. Of course, the cat was Cougar, but Jensen never thought of it as practicing Cougar's strict self-restraint especially with how often he demanded petting from Jake.

“Jake, I am not letting you near my daughter with a wild animal that could easily eat us all,” Erin said, looking every bit the mamma grizzly Jake knew her to be.

“Cougar isn't like that, right Cougs?”

“Why did you name your mountain lion after your teammate? Also, Cougar is not a great name for a cougar. It's like when Mr. Sanders down the street called his dog Dog,” Erin told him, not noticing as Cougar slinked up to her until he pressed his head against her hip and purred.

Erin jumped at least two feet in the air, and Jake tried to withhold his laughter. “He likes you.”

“Mommy when's cake—kitty!” Beth shrieked as she rushed into the room. Cougar laid himself down right in the entryway as Beth came tearing over to them.

“Beth no, he's dangerous. He could—”

Beth was already petting Cougar, and Cougar was purring as loud as the engine of the old van Pooch had been trying to fix.

“I promised him that no one would pull his tail, so careful with the merchandise, Bethy,” Jake said, squatting down to rub Cougar's back while Beth enthusiastically pet his head.

The other little girls were quickly filing into the house after hearing the exclamation of kitty, and soon Cougar was lying on his side purring loudly as six girls pet him and played with his huge paws and even tugged his tail affectionately. Cougar didn't seem to mind the attention at all, and Erin looked at him like he was defective.

“What did you give it? Why isn't it trying to eat us all? How long before it wears off?” Erin asked, staying very close to the pile of excited girls and the fuzzy killing machine.

“I didn't drug him. He's just a very friendly kitty. Maybe we should let them go outside and play with him. He'll be asleep in no time if they just keep petting him,” Jake suggested, watching Cougar's eyes droop slowly.

“A sleeping mountain lion is a lot safer than an awake one,” Erin said, watching Cougar skeptically.

They herded the girls outside, and Cougar followed them slowly, taking time to try to weave between Jake's legs which caused him to almost fall over twice. Jake narrowed his eyes at the cat, “you aren't an actual house cat, Cougar.” Cougar ignored him and did it again, actually knocking Jake over this time. Erin laughed at her brother from the backdoor that she was holding open for her guests.

“I thought you said you were bringing your teammate, not a lion named after him,” Erin said as they both sat in the backyard drinking a couple of beers while the girls chased Cougar around the yard. The cat let them ride on his back, and he trotted nimbly around, careful that they didn't fall off.

“Okay, so I have a bit of a confession...”

“Did the Army kick you out, and you actually joined the circus instead?” Erin asked, and Jake was pretty sure she was being serious. He also had to admit that she had pretty much every right to assume that, given how little he could tell her about what he did other than things about the men he worked with.

“No, I did not join the circus, Erin. My ability to hack multiple systems simultaneously doesn't exactly translate well under the big top. It's actually a bit more far fetched than that,” Jake told her, taking a long pull from his beer before putting it down between his feet. “You're gonna think I'm crazy, and I can't exactly show you with Beth and her friends around, so just, um, don't call the loony bin until Beth goes to sleep okay?” Jake said, taking off his glasses so he could rub his eyes.

“Jake, you're kind of scaring me here, almost as much as the 200 pound lion currently playing with my very edible daughter,” Erin told him, and Jake looked up and smiled as he watched a blurry Cougar climb up onto a low hanging branch and swish his tale over the girls' heads.

“Okay, there's really no not crazy way of saying this, so just bear with me. The mountain lion over there is my teammate, Cougar,” Jake told her, picking his beer up again and taking a long drink while she blinked at him.

“Jake, have you been experimenting again? I mean with drugs, not in the name of science,” Erin asked him, glancing over at the girls and their new best friend.

“No, I know it sounds crazy, but I swear, he's a were-cougar or something. When I first joined the team, they had this rule...” Jake started to explain, and his sister actually listen as he told her the whole story. She didn't look convinced, but she also didn't stop him to tell him he needed to get help. She'd never really been like that, even when he still talked to imaginary friends when he was in middle school. She'd always understood his loneliness and desire to make friends even if he had to make them up. So, really maybe telling her that a mountain lion was actually a man part of the time, and that man was his best friend wasn't all that far fetched to come out of his mouth.

When he'd told her all about the warehouse and Cougar's love of taking over his bed, Erin looked at him long and hard. “Jake, I love so, so much. I swear to God if your teammates are abusing you, I will kill them myself, never mind your guard cat,” Erin told him.

Jake reeled back, suddenly confused by where her mind had gone. “What?”

“Jake, if they make you feel like you need a mountain lion, god knows where you got one, to protect you from their shit, they aren't the team you want to be a part of,” Erin told him, and Jake just gaped at her. “I know you've had a rough go of it, but it isn't worth staying if—”

“They aren't abusing me. They're my friends, like real honest to god friends, Erin,” Jake said, and Cougar was suddenly right there, butting his head against Jake's chest. Jake realized that Cougar did that a lot when he was upset, and it always made him feel better. Maybe Erin wasn't so far off with her assumption that Cougar emotionally stabilized him, but still.

“Jakey—”

“Can we just drop this until the party is over. I need a minute,” Jake told her as he got up to get another beer. Cougar tried to follow him, but Jake pushed his head away from his side and waved at the girls who were clearly missing his attention. Cougar padded away as Jake disappeared inside.

He knew he was being negligent, at least in his sister's eyes, by hiding away while Cougar continued to chase the girls around and let them play with him. Still, he stayed in the kitchen a while, thinking about what he'd gone through before he got to the Losers, and how this assignment had started off pretty rocky as well before Cougar sort of took him under his wing or paw.

Jake loved his team though, and they were good to him once they got used to his constant talking and his social ineptitude. They even went out of their way to protect him from Cougar even though Jake knew Cougar would never intentionally hurt him.

Jake finished his beer before heading back outside. As he stepped off the patio onto the grass, Cougar pounced, tackling him to the ground and standing carefully on top of Jake. “What the—” Jake was cut off before he could curse in front of his niece and her friends as Cougar placed a paw over his lips. “Ew, gross, you've been playing in the dirt all day,” Jake complained, spitting onto the grass beside him.

“Uncle Jake, you're it,” Beth exclaimed, and Jake looked up at Cougar.

“Tag? You tagged me?”

“No tag backs, Uncle Jake,” Beth told him, and Cougar looked particularly smug as he settled down on top of Jake. The girls crept closer, but stayed just out of reach, and Jake couldn't move to tag them because he was pinned down.

“I'll have you know it is very unfair to turn one's pet against them,” Jake told his niece, and the girls just giggled at him, dancing around him gleefully.

Later, Jake put Beth to bed while Erin cleaned up around the house. Cougar had disappeared once everyone had left, and Jake wasn't going to begrudge him some alone time in the car after how awesome he was all afternoon.

Beth talked excitedly about Cougar and how it was the best birthday ever, and Jake happily listened to her. When he came downstairs, Erin was still doing dishes, so he grabbed a towel and started drying.

Before Erin could open her mouth to restart their earlier conversation, Cougar walked into the room wearing his cowboy hat and usual clothes. He looked exhausted, and Jake felt a pang of guilt for letting him get so run down. “So, this is Cougar, Erin,” Jake said as Cougar stood next to him.

Erin dropped the dish she was holding, but Cougar's reflexes allowed him to catch it before it shattered on the floor. “Where's the lion, Jake?” she asked.

“Hiding inside this swarthy Mexican body?” Jake said, waving at Cougar.

Cougar rolled his eyes and held out his hand to Erin. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said, and Erin just about melted the way her daughter did for cat Cougar.

“Are you too playing some elaborate joke on me?” she asked, and Cougar shook his head.

“You're brother is not crazy...in this instance,” Cougar told her. When he pulled his hand back from where they shook, he focused on it and Erin's eyes bulged as she watched his nails turn to claws only for a moment.

“I need whiskey,” she told them. “Finish the dishes,” she ordered as she went up to her room.

Cougar took over washing, and bumped his hip against Jake's as they worked. Jake smiled and bumped back. When Erin came back, Cougar was holding a wet dish just out of Jake's reach as Jake desperately tried to get it from him.

“Give it to me, Coug!”

Erin broke up their little game by laughing softly at their antics. Both men froze and tried to look a little more dignified as Cougar handed over the plate, and Jake dried it.

“You're being an awful lot like kitty Cougar tonight. You looking for some head rubs too?” Jake joked as they worked. Jake didn't notice the way Cougar stiffened because he was focused on drying the dish, but Erin's sharp eyes picked up on it.

She frowned as she watched Jake fool around, clueless as to the way Cougar suddenly withdrew. Erin was still desperately trying to wrap her head around the fact that the gorgeous man in front of her could turn into a mountain lion at will, so the fact that her brother was being a complete bonehead took the back burner.

“I've got some pillows and blankets for the couch. I'm sorry I only have one guest bed, and Beth's bed isn't exactly big enough for either of you, or I'd let you steal her room,” Erin told them as she got ready to head to bed.

“It's no problem. Cougar always steals my covers and half my bed anyway,” Jake told her, and she noticed again the way Cougar's posture stiffened.

“The couch will be fine, thank you, Erin,” Cougar told her.

Jake looked at him funny but then shrugged. He assumed Cougar was just too tired to change again. When Erin went up to her room, Cougar retreated to the couch. Jake took a seat next to him and flipped on the television.

“You were awesome today. Beth is so in love, and all her friends are jealous,” Jake babbled. He glanced beside him, and Cougar was fast asleep, slumped away from him over the armrest. “Guess they really wore you out,” Jake said, reaching out to run his hand along Cougar's back the way he often did when he was a cat. Cougar shifted slightly but didn't wake. Jake smiled at his friend before turning off the TV and heading up to his room. He didn't notice the golden brown eyes that followed his movement through the room or the frown on Cougar's lips.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Not long after the birthday party, the team shipped out on another mission. Cougar was in human form the entire operation, and it took the team some time to get used to him being around yet silent again since he often preferred his other form when home.

They spent a lot of time in safe houses between legs of the mission. The team played cards and hung out while they waited for Jake to make progress or Clay to get orders from their handler.

“Dude, doesn't matter what form you're in, you always manage to cheat me out of my stuff,” Pooch complained when Cougar beat him in three straight hands of poker.

Cougar smirked a him and tipped his hat as he collected his winnings. Pooch just continued to mutter under his breath.

Jensen was on the other side of the room working at his laptop to try to secure them better intelligence on the next place they would be raiding. It didn't escape Cougar's eyes that Jensen would let his hand drop to his side every so often, and it would just twitch as though he was used to something being there. Cougar ducked his head and returned his focus to the game.

Roque and Clay were arguing over infiltration methods in the corner. Roque wanted to blow the compound sky high and move onto the next target. They'd been out here nearly a month. They'd hit more targets in the last twenty-four days than they had in the last year. It was getting tedious, and everyone was wondering when the shoe was going to drop. They didn't have that many successful assignments in a row without having to payback some serious karma. Still, Clay was pushing for a more restrained approached.

Cougar was pushing to go home. He had two days until the full moon forced the change, and the way things were going they might be mid op by then. Cougar told himself he let Pooch win the next hand, but the truth was that he was worried. It had been a month without letting the cat out. He was going to be restless and hungry when the moon came, not a good combination in the middle of foreign soil during a high risk operation.

Pooch crowed at his victory, and Jake even glanced up from his computer to frown at them. Cougar shook himself out of his thoughts. He'd been doing this since he was a child. He hadn't survived this long by luck. He controlled the beast within him like he controlled his breathing while finding a shot. He'd let that control slip while around the team lately, but he'd just have to take it back.

“I'm going to check the perimeter,” Cougar said, getting up from the small table abruptly.

“What? Don't go, Cougar. I can feel it. I'm on a streak. I still have a bunch of money to win back,” Pooch complained as Cougar walked away, checking his sidearm as he went.

Jake frowned as he passed him, but he didn't say anything. Things between them had been a little tense since the party. Cougar was afraid of getting too close, and Jensen was clearly feeling the rejection of the cat since it hadn't made an appearance in so long.

Cougar took a steadying breath as he stepped outside. The safe house was little more than a shack on the outskirts of a small city. Large enough a place that no one paid them much mind, but small and isolated enough to disappear off the map at a moment's notice.

Cougar had spent his entire life keeping his distance from people. He was a sniper; it was in his job description. Ever since Jake joined the team though, Cougar had been unable to maintain that distance. Jake needed closeness. Jake needed people that weren't going to abandon him or torment him as teams and people had in the past. Jake's easy acceptance of who and what Cougar was made him believe it was worth allowing himself to get close to the younger man.

However, now Cougar was laid bare to the entire team. They knew his secrets, his weaknesses. They could easily destroy him, and Cougar felt it coming. Either he'd get them killed, or they'd get him killed. Hell, he was already playing petting zoo to nieces. He was clearly letting himself be led right to the edge of the cliff.

Cougar cleared his head and tried to enjoy the cleaner air at the edge of the city. Rain was coming. He could smell it. He hoped it held off til they completed their mission. He wasn't particularly fond of lying on the sodden ground and getting drenched for hours while the rest of the team got to go inside, even if briefly.

“Hey, Coug. You okay?” Jake asked from behind him. Cougar let out his breath slowly through his nose. No techniques were going to stop the way Jensen being close made it hard to breathe.

“Sí,” Cougar sighed. He didn't bother to turn in Jake's direction. Jake would be beside him in a moment either way. Spending so much time with him in cat form had caused them to develop a silent language that transferred over when Cougar was human. No one had ever understood Cougar's silences the way Jake did.

“Something's wrong with you. What's up?” Jake asked. As expected, he was next to Cougar in a matter of two strides, and he bumped their shoulders gently.

Cougar had long ago promised himself not to lie to Jake, so he chose to divulge the truth, but not the one that had been bothering him for over a month. “Full moon in less than two days,” Cougar said softly, knowing Jake would hear him.

“So? You change every month. We got your back,” Jake told him.

“I haven't changed in a month. It can be unpredictable...”

“Dude, you aren't going to eat us.”

“You can't be certain of that.”

“No, I totally can. You didn't eat me when I was nothing more than the irritating newbie. We're brothers now. You wouldn't hurt me if someone held a gun to your furry head,” Jake said, completely convinced.

Cougar knew his words were true. That didn't mean that others couldn't inadvertently exploit that weakness. “It is not ideal.”  Cougar chose the words carefully.

“Nope, but nothing ever is with the Losers, is it?” Jake retorted, patting Cougar on the back and silently asking him to come back inside. Cougar didn't deny him, and let himself be led back into the safe house. “Come see what I've been doing,” Jake asked as he tugged Cougar in the direction of his laptops. Cougar went easily, and let Jake tell him all about what he'd been up to all morning.

 ---

Two days later, Cougar paced the safe house feeling caged. Clay, Roque, and Pooch were giving him a wide berth. They kept to themselves, discussing plans for the mission the next day. Jake, of course, was glued to Cougar trying to get him to calm down even though Cougar wasn't actually showing any outward signs of anxiousness.

“Don't worry, Coug. I've got Breakfast Club on my laptop, so it'll be just like home. We'll watch a movie, and everything will be fine,” Jake assured him, opening a new window with the movie's main menu on it.

“Jensen, I'm going to pretend that you aren't keeping illegally downloaded movies on your Army issued equipment,” Clay growled from across the room.

“That's for the best, sir, and I'll pretend like I don't have a separate partition on the drive just for all these goodies,” Jake replied, smiling falsely at him. Cougar smiled even though the knowledge that Jake had prepared for this didn't actually ease his nerves at all.

As midnight approached, Cougar started to feel the transformation. He didn't want to transform in front of his teammates. He'd only ever done so in front of Jake, but there was nowhere for him to go. The shack was one room and a bathroom barely big enough for a grown man never mind a transformation. Outside, they were still close enough to the city that someone might pass by.

“Hey, it's okay. Clay and them will go outside if you want privacy,” Jake told him quietly.

“Like hell I will. It's a fuckin' monsoon out there,” Roque complained, looking out the window where the rain fell heavily on the soft ground.

Cougar tried not to flinch. Fighting it would make it worse. Instead, he removed his hat and placed it over Jake's laptop. Jensen bit his lip as Cougar slowly pulled his t-shirt over his head. He could feel all of their eyes on him.

“God, can't a guy get some privacy?” Jake snapped as Cougar reached down to unbutton his pants. Their three teammates actually jumped to attention and quickly turned their backs to Cougar and Jake. Cougar returned the wobbly smile that Jake gave him and ruffled Jake's messy hair. Then he turned his back to Jake and dropped his BDUs and underwear, barely waiting for them to hit the floor before letting his body shift into the animal.

It was smooth considering how long it had been and how much stress he'd been feeling about this change. Jake was right there though, and as much as Cougar liked to think the cat was a wild beast, it was as docile as a kitten when Jensen was nearby. The cat didn't feel the jealousy that Cougar did. The cat didn't worry about hurting his team. The cat knew things in uncertain terms. Jake was important. The team was family.

As his human body shifted to stronger muscles, claws, and fur; Cougar felt his mind shift. He was still conscious of his actions to an extent, but everything was much more black and white. There was little hesitation as the beast.

The cat twisted around as the transformation came to an end, and he went down onto four paws. He looked at Jake for a long moment, keen eyes checking every inch of the man to make sure he was in staying in good health during the cat's absence. Cougar stalked over to Jake who was grinning at him. He pressed his head into Jake's chest and rubbed until he was covered with his scent.

Jake smelled awful, like sweat and mud and too many days in the same clothes without a shower. The cat fixed it by painting Jake with his own scent. It was enough to make being next to Jake tolerable, but there was really no getting rid of the stench of the safe house. Cougar was less than pleased with the way it assaulted his heightened senses. He was half tempted to mark the rest of the team, but they were far less welcoming of the behavior, especially after Jake had explained what it was. _Idiota_.

“Hey there, kitty,” Jake said, and Cougar tried to nip at his fingers for the indignity of being called a kitty. Jake predictably yanked his fingers away and glared at Cougar. Cougar bunted against his chest again. Knocking Jake over with his weight was an added bonus, and it allowed him easy access to Jake's face and neck.

When Cougar was satisfied that Jensen was sufficiently marked up, he stepped off of Jake, who was complaining loudly about cat hair in his mouth again. It wasn't Cougar's problem that Jake couldn't keep his mouth shut for five seconds straight.

Cougar slowly prowled the perimeter of the large room. He paused at each of the Losers and accepted their greetings. He nudged Pooch's hip, smelling the granola bar on his person.

“Really?” Pooch groaned, opening the treat and dropping it before Cougar could try to eat it and his hand. Cougar ate the treat happily. Then returned to where Jake had set up his laptop on his and Cougar's sleeping bags. Cougar quickly curled up against Jake's side and waited patiently for the movie to begin. Jake started rubbing behind his ears and under his chin, and Cougar relaxed into the familiarity of it all.

It was three hours later while Jake's was snoring through another movie, Roque was asleep on his own sleeping bag, and Pooch was out leaning over the table that Cougar came to attention.

Clay looked at him immediately as he perked up. Something was out there. Something taking care not to make a sound, but it couldn't stop the plink of the rain on its... _their_ weapons. They couldn't stop the squish of their boots in the mud. Cougar couldn't smell them, but they were there. Cougar was off the floor kicking Jake before dashing over to Pooch and waking him. Clay woke Roque, pushing a gun into his hand as he ducked for cover.

Jake was scrambling to get his laptop off his chest when the door burst open. Cougar ordinarily would've pounced on any intruders and torn their throats out, guns be damned. However, he didn't hesitate to jump on top of Jake's still prone body as Clay, Roque, and Pooch opened fire on their attackers.

They were outnumbered, but the Losers had the advantage because these men clearly believed most of them would be asleep, and were ill-prepared for a true fire fight. However, Cougar still felt the searing pain of a bullet grazing his flank and another embedding itself in his shoulder. Better that than Jensen's chest though.

Clay took down the shooter that had focused on them, and Roque was making quick work of anyone who was foolish enough to press through the door. Pooch had gone around back to ensure that anyone planing to sneak attack from behind thought twice.

It was over quickly. Jensen and the cat contributing nothing to the fight. Still Jensen was trembling when Clay gave the all clear which was returned by Pooch. Roque still had his gun trained on the door, just in case.

Cougar yowled at the sensation that his back was on fire. He could feel the bullet still wedged between his shoulders, and his flank was bleeding freely where the bullet graze him deeply. He sensed that he was trembling as much as Jensen was when Clay placed a cautious hand on his uninjured shoulder.

“Cougar, if you can hear me, you need to get off of Jensen before you collapse on him,” Clay said, and the cat tried to move. He lifted his injured leg and sway. Clay ended up catching him around the middle and holding him up enough for Jake to roll out from beneath him. Then the pair of them eased him down onto the bedding.

“Shit, Colonel. Who the hell were those guys? Fuuuuck, look at him,” Jake said, looking down at Cougar. Cougar didn't like the look in his eyes. It was straddling the line between concern and pity, and Cougar hated pity. Cats were not to be pitied. They were predators. Regal creatures.

Still, Cougar yowled again when Jake reached out to inspect his shoulder wound. “Sorry, Coug,” Jake told him, rubbing his ear with his other hand. “Fuck, Colonel. This is my fault. I shouldn't have fallen asleep like that. I should've had my gun. I—”

Cougar growled before Jake could get himself truly worked up. Clay seemed to feel the same because he was shaking his head at Jake. “Wasn't your watch, son. You were making sure the cat wasn't agitated. You were doing your job,” Clay told him, patting him on the shoulder. “Now you and Pooch need to get that bullet out of him, so we can get the hell out of here.”

“Shouldn't we be getting out of here first?” Roque asked.

“If he changes back with that still in him, who knows what damage it could do.”

“You want us to perform surgery on that fanged monster without any sort of anesthetic?” Pooch asked in disbelief.

“You got any better ideas?” Clay asked.

“Fuck.” It seemed to be the only thing Jake was able to contribute to the conversation as he used Cougar's discarded shirt to staunch the bleeding. Cougar growled softly at the pain Jake's actions caused, but Jake's touch was always good. He wouldn't fight it. Jake would protect him. It was how it worked. “You're okay, right Coug?” Jake asked softly, rubbing Cougar's uninjured side.

Pooch approached with the med kit, looking very worried as he placed it in front of Cougar. “Dude, how are we going to do this? One swipe could take us out. You saw what he did to those smugglers that time.”

“Just hand me some tweezers and saline,” Jake told him, clearly ignoring everyone's concerns. Jake had the least steady hands among them, always being hyped up on caffeine or crashing hard. He also had a thousand nervous ticks. Still, the cat trusted him, and would've put up a fuss if anyone else approached his burning back with a sharp object.

Having a bullet dug out of his back was torture, and it went against every instinct in the cat not to roll away and attack them. Cougar clawed silently at Jensen's sleeping bag beneath him. He could see Pooch flinch each time his claws dug into the stuffing. Jensen was important. He wouldn't hurt Jensen. Jensen was _important_. It wasn't words that repeated in the cat's mind but the undeniable instinct and feeling.

Cougar actually wailed as the tweezers finally gripped the bullet and dragged it roughly from his muscle and flesh.

“Shit, shit, shit. Sorry, Cougar,” Jake told him as it finally emerged through the hole it made upon entry.

“Hurry it up, Jensen. That racket isn't going to go unnoticed. We need to move soon. Pooch, get the vehicle. Roque, get ready to carry the cat,” Clay ordered when Cougar quieted.

“Fuck, it's bleeding a lot,” Jake said as he scrambled to staunch the renewed flow of blood. Cougar remained silent. He was exhausted. He felt it more with each minute that passed. The pull of the moon was lessening, and the strain of the bullet wounds was worsening. “No, no! Stay with me, Cougs. Come on, just stay awake a little longer. Let me get you patched up before you change,” Jake begged him.

Cougar fought off sleep long enough for Jake to close the entry wound, but he passed into unconsciousness as soon as Roque and Jensen lifted him to carry him to the car.

\---

The first thing Cougar registered as he woke was Clay's voice. “If it hadn't been for the cat, we'd all be dead. I didn't hear a thing, but suddenly he was going nuts. Not even Cougar would've heard that,” Clay said.

“Fuckin' close call,” Pooch agreed.

“Yeah, and look at what it did to him.” Jake's voice was rough. Cougar wanted to reach out and comfort him, but his body didn't want to move. His back still felt aflame, and the rest of his body ached from transforming while injured. It was wholly unpleasant, but he needed to pull himself together, so they could finish the mission.

“Pull yourself together, Jensen. He's not your house pet,” Roque told him.

Jake didn't say anything, but Cougar could feel him tense at Roque's words. The idea that he was their pet stung as badly as the pain in his back.

Cougar also ignored the knife to his heart that their continued words of praise for the cat made him feel. The cat had become more irreplaceable than he was. Clay had said it, not even Cougar himself would've heard it. None of that was important right now. Cougar needed to control himself.

He felt Jake's gentle touch on his back, feather light as though Jake was terrified of hurting him further. Cougar continued to feign sleep. He could feel them bouncing in the vehicle Pooch had stolen for them. He could also feel the sleeping bag draped over him to cover his nakedness.

Cougar slowly opened his eyes, immediately meeting Jake's wide blue gaze. Jake had a smudge of Cougar's blood on his cheek, and Cougar held himself back from wiping it away.

“Can I get you anything?” Jake asked, reaching for his hand. Cougar curled his fingers into a fist. He didn't want to be comforted right now. He needed to ground himself. That went out the window when Jensen flinched back at the denial. Cougar reached out and took Jake's fingers in his own, ignoring the strain in his shoulder from the movement. He wouldn't abandon Jake. “No, it's okay. You don't have to,” Jake told him, trying to pull back, but Cougar held him tight.

“I want to,” Cougar assured him. Truth be told, Cougar had wanted Jake to touch him with the tender affection that he showed the cat for months now. He was a fool for trying to pull away from it.

Jake gave him a sad smile. “I got you shot,” Jake told him, sounding miserable.

“The cat would not agree. It is instinct to protect what is important to me,” Cougar admitted, given strength by their twined fingers.

“I'm important?” Jake asked shyly.

“Very.”

“I'm still sorry you got shot twice protecting my unprepared ass,” Jake apologized.

“Do not trouble yourself. I will heal.”

“I don't know, man. You can't see the crooked ass stitches he put in you while Pooch was driving,” Roque interrupted, allergic to touching moments, and prepared to diffuse them at all costs.

Cougar raised an eyebrow.

“I'm not great at them to begin with. If you wanted perfection you'd have to do them yourself,” Jake groused.

Cougar smiled and shook his head. “I'm sure they are fine.”

Clay made a face backing up Roque, but Cougar didn't doubt they'd hold the wounds shut, and that was all that was necessary. He would heal quickly, he always had whether it was natural or from the cat he couldn't be sure. Jake rubbed his back softly as he started to nod off. Cougar fell asleep again with Jake's hand cradled in his own.

They were getting pulled out, according to Clay. Their luck with the raids had run out, and the enemy was clearly onto them, so they'd pull back and when the Army had enough intel again, a different team would finish the job.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to have this posted a lot sooner, but I've been really busy then this week I've been sick, so I've been delayed a bunch.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr [here](http://jinxedambitions.tumblr.com). Sometimes, I'll give random status updates on fics or post ficlets that I think are too short to post here.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter certainly took longer than expected, but this story isn't abandoned. It's just taking longer than I thought it would.

Jake didn't let go of Cougar's hand when he fell back to sleep. He clung to it, trying not to think about Cougar's weight pressed against him as they were shot at, or the way Cougar's body absorbed the impact of the bullet. Still, even as Jake sat there watching Cougar's chest rise and fall, he couldn't stop images of Cougar lying there cold and dead from creeping in.

Clay sat just behind Pooch and Roque, giving Jensen and Cougar the space to spread out in the back of the van. He was talking extraction points and time schedules, and it should have been something familiar to ease Jake's thoughts, but it didn't.

Jake ran his fingers through Cougar's dirty hair, snagging a few times unlike in the short yet soft fur that cat had. Still the motion always soothed Jensen, possibly more than it did Cougar.

However, the longer they drove along the winding road away from the city, the more invasive Jensen's thoughts became. He tried not to think about what would've happened if Cougar had been mortally wounded. Life without Cougar would be awful. He was Jensen's best friend. He put up with even Jensen's most annoying attributes. The cat always knew when Jensen needed a cuddle or a nudge.

Jensen couldn't stop his overactive mind from imagining the cat bleeding out. Jensen unable to know if his words were registering with Cougar, not ever hearing Cougar's last words because as miraculous as the existence of the cat was, he couldn't speak English.

Jake was going to be sick.

“Pooch, pull over,” he ordered, sealing his mouth shut as his stomach rolled.

“Something wrong with Cougar?” Pooch asked, slowing a little, but not stopping.

Clay glanced back at Jake and wheeled back around, “Porteous, pull the fuck over a minute ago. Kids about to lose it,” Clay shouted, and Pooch immediately swerved onto the dirt at the side of the road, kicking up dust and stones as the pulled to a halt.

Jake was out of the van in an instant, dashing about ten feet before he was retching in the dirt and sparse grass alongside the road. No matter how much he fought it, images of Cougar dead played through his mind as he clutched at the grass.

\---

Cougar sensed that something wasn't right. It pulled him out of his slumber, and even before he was fully conscious, he knew it was Jake. Cougar didn't think about his body's already weakened state as he let his mind clear of everything but the call of the animal inside him. He felt his body shift seamlessly considering how beat up his body already was.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Clay watching him with deep worry creasing his brow as Cougar pushed his sleek body up on the back seat and dove out of the van which was still wide open.

“Shit, Cougar!” Clay yelled, but the cat wasn't listening to him. He was solely focused on the pitiful sounds Jake was making between dry heaves in the grass.

The cat charged over to Jake's hunched form, butting his head against Jake's shoulder and knocking him over.

Jake scrambled to push himself up, grabbing at the scruff of the cat's neck. “Shit, no Cougs. You're hurt, you shouldn't be shifting,” Jake told him, but the cat butted his head against Jake's shoulder again then licked his face. “Gross Cougar, I've got vomit on me. You don't want to—”

The cat licked him again, cleaning his face until it was free of regurgitated MRE. The cat also caught Jake's glasses during the cleaning, and Jake sighed. Then Cougar rubbed his fuzzy head against Jake's.

“You are not a towel, Cougar. You are made of fur that gets stuck to things, like my glasses. Thank you, now I have furry glasses,” Jake groaned, pulling his glasses off even as Cougar continued to clean his face.

Cougar would not be deterred by Jake's whining. Jake was sick and needed attention, so the cat was going to give it to him whether he liked it or not.

\---

Jake wrapped an arm around Cougar's body and pressed his nose to the fur on Cougar's neck. He took a couple calming breaths as his mind calmed due to Cougar's presence. Cougar knocked Jake over and laid on top of him still nudging him and licking him clean, which Jake found absolutely gross as he was covered in sweat and dirt from days without proper facilities. Cougar didn't seem to mind at all though because he determinedly cleaned all available skin.

“That feels really gross, Cougs. I'm going to need a shower to wash off your shower,” he complained, pushing Cougar's mouth away from the side of his head.

Cougar growled at him and pinned his arm down with one of his massive paws.

“You're a bastard, you know that?” Jake asked as Cougar's sandpapery tongue basically gave him a wet willy.

Cougar yowled at him softly, seemingly proud of himself. Jake could admit that Cougar was doing a good job of distracting him from his morbid thoughts. However, Jake would've rather he did it without the gross tongue bath.

“Thanks Cougar,” Jake whispered into the cat's fur, and the massive cat purred. “God, I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“Guys, we got company, and they look like the gun toting kind,” Pooch called from the van.

“Let's go, Losers,” Clay shouted as bullets began to fly.

Jake scrambled to his feet, but he was still disoriented from the adrenaline yo-yo and losing his dinner. He stumbled, but the cat was there to steady him before he could fall, and Jake buried his fingers in Cougar's scruff. Cougar led him back to the van.

The van peeled out even before they were fully inside. Cougar ended up diving in just before Clay leaned out to return fire.

“How do these guys keep finding us?” Roque shouted between volleys of bullets.

“Someone's got to be feeding them information,” Jake said as he leaned out and fired at the other vehicle. “No one hacks me, so it's got to be a leak from legit channels.”

“Fuck,” Clay cursed, pulling himself back in the car to reload.

“Guess the extraction is out for now,” Pooch said, sounding resigned to another adventure in a foreign wilderness. They were all getting tired of it.

“Jake, shoot their tires,” Clay ordered.

“With what?” Jake asked.

“Cougar's rifle. You're the one he actually taught how to use it,” Clay shouted. That was a bald faced lie. They could all shoot Cougar's gun. Jake was just the only one that Cougar had actually let fire his weapon. The man was territorial, like _really_ territorial. Jake assumed that if Roque wouldn't gladly castrate Cougar for it, the cat would piss all over their house to mark it as his. That's the sort of territorial they were dealing with.

“He will maul me to death,” Jake complained. Sure, the cat had just giving him cuddles and licks, but Jake hadn't been touching his favorite weapon then.

“Shoot the damn tires Jake, or we'll all be too dead to be mauled,” Pooch told him.

Jake grumbled about getting the worst jobs, but he reached for the rifle case. Cougar bared his teeth to show his displeasure, but he didn't stop Jake from assembling his weapon.

“How am I supposed to get a clean shot with this?” he asked because there was no way he was leaning out the side of the van, holding Cougar's most prized possession as they took the winding road way too fast. If Cougar didn't like Jake touching it, he'd like it a lot less if he dropped it out of the car.

Before anyone could respond with no doubt colorful suggestions, the back window of the van shattered, and Jake groaned. This was just his luck.

“If I get shot in the face, I am going to be _very_ mad,” Jake told them as he crawled on his belly toward the back of the van.

Cougar crawled beside him, and Jake threw him a dirty look.

“This is _your_ job, but you're all kitty-like right now, and I am not happy about this at all, and if I get shot in the face it's going to be your fault because you could totally hang out the side of the car like fucking Spiderman or something, and you'd get their tires on the first shot, but _no_ you had to go and transform when you were already injured,” Jake ranted, waiting for Clay to give him the signal to rise and fire.

Cougar stopped following him, and Jake assumed that it was to give him space since the SR-25 was massive, and Jake wasn't too small, and cat Cougar was bigger than both.

“Jensen now,” Clay shouted, and Jake rose and rested the rifle on the back window and steadied his aim for the vehicle's tires.

Jake squeezed the trigger, and no one was more surprised than him when he blew out the tire on the first shot. Well, maybe the guys in the other vehicle were a bit surprised as they suddenly swerved, still going about seventy miles per hour, and flew off the road into a ravine.

“Who's the man?” Jake shouted as he pulled the gun back in and rested it on the floor of the van.

“Outstanding, Jensen. Now, let's find cover before someone else catches up,” Clay said.

Jake looked around the back of the van and saw Cougar was curled up right behind Pooch's seat, trying to lick his wounds.

“No, stop that. I will make you wear a cone!” Jake said as he crawled over to Cougar.

The others laughed as Jake and Cougar had a standoff over Cougar's wounds. Every time Cougar would stretch to lick his back, Jake would flick his nose. This caused Cougar to bare his teeth and swat at Jake. This went on for a good five minutes before Cougar seemed to tire of their impasse.

He settled down, and Jake sighed in relief. The wounds were looking angry and red, and Jake was already worried about them. He didn't want Cougar to make them worse by licking at them.

Jake was just settling in himself as Pooch took them off the main road, when Cougar wheeled around so fast and licked so hard at the wounds that they began to bleed.

Jake lunged at him to pull his face away from them, but Cougar bit him on the arm. Jake cried out as he reared back, looking down at his bleeding arm in complete shock. He glanced at Cougar, but the cat was only concerned with licking his wounds and not the wound he gave Jake.

“What the hell did you do to him, Jensen?” Clay asked, taking a good look at Jake's bleeding arm.

“Nothing. He shouldn't be licking his wounds,” Jake said, kicking Cougar in the side to let him know he was pissed.

Cougar lifted his head and bared his teeth again.

“Okay, those are not happy cat noises. Leave him alone for now, okay Jay?” Pooch said, without taking his eyes off the tiny road they were taking.

“He started it,” Jake said.

“And he is also capable of finishing it, so let's let the grumpy mountain lion lick his stitches if he wants to,” Pooch told him.

“If he gets an infection, don't expect me to take care of him,” Jake told them, moving back to the back of the van.

Everyone rolled there eyes but went back to counting how much ammunition they had left. Jake sat in the corner with the med kit, disinfecting and wrapping his injured arm. Cougar had gotten him pretty good, but thankfully it was only superficial. Jake knew Cougar's jaws could've snapped his forearm with ease.

Jake didn't really understand why he'd struck out like that, especially after he'd been so concerned with Jake getting sick at the side of the road.

Jake ran his fingers through his hair, sighing deeply. He dug through his pack to grab his canteen and took a long sip of the tepid water. It wasn't refreshing at all, but he needed the hydration, especially after losing his lunch.

They drove for hours, and none of them were exactly sure where they were headed. For all they knew, they could be headed right into a trap. They were low on ammo. They were tired. They were hungry, and they had no idea when they would be able to fix all of those things.

Not to mention, Cougar wasn't letting anyone get near him since he bit Jake. Clay was looking very annoyed with the whole situation, and Jake was feeling similarly.

Pooch and Roque were keeping it together better than anyone. When Pooch stopped the van and told everyone it was time to go on foot, everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

“Look, we don't have a lot of gas left and this road isn't exactly fast driving. We'll be better off on foot, distancing ourselves from the vehicle. Maybe we'll find another, but right now we need to get off the grid, right?” Pooch said, turned around in his seat to look at Clay and Jake.

“But Cougar's injured,” Jake automatically said. Cougar growled at that, pushing himself to his feet and pacing the back of the van like he was waiting to be released.

“Cougar doesn't seem like he cares about that, now let's go before any mysterious goons show up,” Pooch commanded.

Clay nodded his agreement with the plan, and they gathered their dwindling supplies into their packs and climbed out of the van. Pooch drove the thing down into a ravine out of sight once they were all out.

“Okay, so which direction are we headed, oh brilliant Pooch?” Jake asked as they all stood in the dense forest. Before Pooch could answer, the cat headed off into the underbrush.

“Guess Cougar's taking point,” Clay said, sounding like he'd given up having control of this mission about ten miles back. This was the sort of thing they were trained for, but it was just a bit irritating that the reason they were in this situation was because of their own people.

Jake fell back, watching their six as Pooch led the charge behind Cougar. Jake was worried about Cougar's injuries, but the cat didn't seem to worry about his own wounds. Jake had seen men shot before and keep going, but it was a lot different when Jake was the reason they'd been shot.

The forest was dense, and way too hot for anyone's liking. Jake was pretty sure that he was going to be swimming in his gear pretty soon. Roque complained about the mosquitoes as they trudged through the thick growth. Clay muttered to himself about contacting their handler for safe extraction. Pooch was quiet, trying to follow Cougar's movements when the cat was built for blending in.

Basically, it was not the fun sort of going of mission. Not that going off mission was really ever fun where the Losers were concerned. Going off mission meant their shitty mission had somehow gotten even shittier than expected, and their expectations were pretty low to begin with.

“So, are we going to come up with a plan, Clay, or is this just going to be a flying by the seat of our pants sort of op?” Jake asked as the already dim light began to fade.

“Cougar will find us a place to camp for the night,” Clay told him.

“You sure about that? Have you discussed that with the giant furry ball of rage guiding this mission?” Jake asked.

“Jake, shut up. You're making the furry ball of rage twitchy,” Pooch called over his shoulder.

Jake groaned. He didn't know how he got on everyone's shit list. It wasn't his fault that the cat was cranky. Not to mention, Jake was carrying all of Cougar's gear as well as his own, and Cougar's guns were not light. If anything, everyone should be happy they weren't the designated Cougar handler.

As assumed, Cougar found them a fairly sheltered area to make camp. It wasn't ideal, though nothing in this situation was, but it was defensible, so that was a plus.

Jake was about to attempt to clean Cougar's wounds again once they were settled, but Cougar disappeared into the underbrush. Jake looked around, but no one else seemed concerned by the cat's disappearance.

Jake waited for over an hour for Cougar to return, but no one else paid it any mind as they ate MREs and checked their weapons. Roque and Clay started talking over plans for getting back to the US.

When Cougar returned, it was with a dead animal in his teeth. Jake wasn't sure what it was, and he was more than a little grossed out when Cougar dropped it in his lap.

“Worst apology ever,” Jake groaned as Cougar flopped down next to him, seemingly over whatever had pissed him off earlier. Cougar nudged the dead, over-sized rodent when Jake just stared at it in disgust. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

The cat growled, pulling the creature out of Jake's lap and toward the small fire that Pooch had built for them.

“Oh. This is my dinner? Well, that's very sweet of you Cougar, but I had an MRE, why don't you eat the poor animal?” Jake suggested, reaching over to bury his fingers in Cougar's fur to give him a scratch.

Cougar tilted his head to look at Jake, causing the carcass to jiggled between his jaws. Jake frowned at the picture, but he kept scratching just above Cougar's tail.

“Speak for yourself, Jensen. Hand that over here,” Roque interjected. Cougar turned to look at Roque and padded over to him to drop the animal in Roque's lap before returning to Jake's side.

Jake watched Roque pull out one of his knives and cut the thing open. Jake was disgusted by how Roque smiled as he cooked the meager amount of meat over the flame.

Jake brought his attention back to Cougar. His wounds didn't look great, but they weren't bleeding.

“Are you going to get cranky if I clean you up a bit?” Jake asked, still irritated from that morning.

Cougar draped himself over Jake's lap, and Jake took it as consent to clean his wounds. The cat was silent as Jake washed the angry flesh around the bullet holes. Jake ended up using Pooch's duct tape to tape down the covering he put on the wounds.

It would be a pain in the ass to get off, but they were out here without back up, and Jake didn't want to risk any infections. Cougar didn't seem to mind the covering, and when Jake was finished the cat began licking at Jake's bandaged arm.

“Stop that. I'm still mad about it,” Jake told him, using his good arm to rub between the cat's ears.

The cat lifted his head and nuzzled Jake's cheek. “Yeah, I'll forgive you, just try not to be an ass, alright? This mission sucks, and none of us are at our best,” Jake told the cat, wrapping his arms around Cougar's neck and resting his chin on the cat's head. The cat didn't try to shake him off, so they just sat like that until Clay decided the watch schedule, and they tucked in for a few hours of rest.

Jake took first watch, but Cougar didn't sleep much while Jake sat on a fallen log. The cat curled up in front of him, startling awake any time there was the faintest noise in the night. It worried Jake. Cougar needed rest if he was going to heal, but he didn't seem able to rest while there was the possibility of an attack that only he might hear in time.

Jake hated this mission all the more because he knew it was going to get worse before they made it home. Jake wasn't the praying sort, but he hoped that he wouldn't lose Cougar on this op because Cougar didn't seem like he planned to rest until they were home safely.

Jake couldn't bear the thought of losing him, either form of him. So, he rubbed the cat's head until its eyes drooped, and he kept petting him until Cougar slumbered. He'd have Cougar's back even if Cougar hated him for it.

 


End file.
